Adding Capacity with Little Investment at APPM

Roman Smorgunov, AFT (left) and Dmitry Khrapach, Board Production Manager, APPM

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Russia, 2020 - Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill (APPM) is one of the largest producers of containerboard in Russia, producing over 500 000 TPY of fluting and Kraft linerboard.

Over the past several years, they have invested over EUR 100 million on both board machines, improving quality and reducing environmental impact. Alongside the significant containerboard investment, the mill is always in search of ways to improve quality and increase capacity.

According to Dmitry Khrapach, board production manager, “We need strategic flexibility because packaging is always changing. Fiber yield and optimization is a must. Easy changes from one grade to another have to be smooth. Product appearance must be consistent."

“As a result of comprehensive measures performed on the machine, we increased the production rate above design capacity. However, this caused limitations in thick stock screening capacity. So, we needed to increase the screening capacity, which was accomplished without big capital investments. For this purpose we chose AFT, knowing that they have the knowledge and experience in tackling such tasks.”

After modelling BM1’s bottom-ply thick stock screening and mapping out flow changes inside the screens, AFT recommended new high efficiency GHC2™ rotors and Macroflow™ cylinders with optimized open area and profile in all three stages to improve pulp throughput without sacrificing quality.

Says Khrapach, “Who says screening is boring? Sometimes you win big by being creative. Simple, bold moves inside our screens improved flow to allow us to maximize output and quality. We achieved a 30% gain in screening capacity, and stable properties of the end product - that’s a big win!”

APPM also produces over 1,000 t/day of bleached market pulp for both Russian and world markets.  Vadim Moseev, head of APPM pulp production, believes that market pulp requirements demand constant attention to even the smallest issues in the process:  “Small problems can become big problems, so we address them early. We decided to repurpose an old screen to handle all black liquor flow for our hardwood and softwood Kraft production. The goal of the conversion was to recover more fiber from the black liquor stream and meet capacity objectives. We looked to AFT to make this happen.”

AFT upgraded the screen with a GHCb™ rotor and Electrobeam drilled cylinder along with preliminary layout, piping and process engineering. In addition, new control valves and operating logic were built around the old Hooper pressure screen and existing DCS system.  All objectives for this screen conversion project were achieved, including reducing fiber deposits on the evaporation equipment, increased fiber recovery, and running a single screen to handle all of the mill’s black liquor flow.

aft 16nov20 2Vadim Moseev, Pulp Production Manager, APPM


Source: AFT